So, I’ll admit it, I’m biased. I love (♥) IDF. I always have, even before joining Intel because I’ve always found that, while it has always Intel at the core (forgive the pun), it has also always been a Mecca of sorts for the technology crowd & there were always plenty of other Tech Companies there, showing their wares & giving you a great feeling for what was “just around the corner.” And, I’ve been to at least half the IDFs over the last decade, so I’ve got some experience behind me when I say this year has really got me excited! Let me share a short list of what I know is happening, then I’ll go into a bit more details of some of them:

• Keynotes – 3 of them (Tues/Wed/Thurs) by the folks you know & love:
  • Paul Otellini - President and Chief Executive Officer of Intel
  • Mooly Eden – Vice President of our PC Client Group
  • Justin Rattner – Chief Technology Officer of Intel
• Demos – we’ve got at least 10 in our main booth, plus 21 displays from our friends in the embedded business in our Embedded Community as well as a few “special” demos spread around
• Parties (always the highlight of any tradeshow, right?)
  • A “Secret” party on Tuesday Night
    • All I can say is it is Tuesday Night ((details will be disclosed the 1st day))
  • Customer Networking Event with the Intel® Datacenter & Connected Systems Group (DCSG) 
    • Wednesday, September 14^th, The Terrace @ W Hotel, 7:30 pm - 11:00 pm 
• Embedded (EMB) & Communications (CMI) Classes, Hands-on Labs, & Poster Chats
  • 10 Classes
  • 4 Poster Chats
  • 4 Labs (most of them with a 2nd, duplicate session)
  • The COMPLETE listing will be in a Table at the End!
• SiMan – “The Intelligent Connected Solutions Man”
  • Our friend will be 18 feet tall & will be a wonderful collaborative activity
  • Come lend a hand putting him together, enter a contest, & get a glow stick
  • The big “GlowTime” event will be Wednesday evening around 6:15 or so
  • This could be one of the most “out-of-the-box” things you’ll ever see at IDF
  • UPDATE: See the Intel Free Press story on SiMan to see a sneak peak of what he looks like
• Videos – lots & lots of videos – plus Tweets & other Social Media Updates
  • If you want to find me at the show, just look for the camera crew somewhere near the Embedded Booth & that will probably be me with a mic in my hand
  • If you want to give a testimonial on video – hit me up on Twitter & we’ll try to find a time to do it
  • The “official” #HashTag for IDF this year is #IDF2011 so follow that to stay in the know
  • We’ll also be capturing pictures as quick as we can & posting them to our Facebook Page
  • What else should we do? Let me know in the comments below!

So, with the “list” out of the way (Engineers love ordered lists), I will add a few closing comments. First, while I didn’t go through the whole list of all the Demos, I have reviewed them & there is a pretty wide variety that you have to look forward to – from highlights from some of the ROBOTS we’ve done with various college students (like Matt Bunting’s HexaPod Robot & the A-CURV from U of A) – to cool public ready demos’ like the adiVerse Footwear Wall from Adidas & the LEGO Augmented Reality Display – and lots of other cool things.

Secondly, if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see the full breadth of classes, labs, & poster chats that we’ll be doing at IDF that relate to the Embedded & Communications areas of Intel. I spend some time collecting ALL of the titles (& links you can click to read the full descriptions) because this is a huge breakthrough when you consider that like 3 or 4 years ago, there was real talk about cutting Embedded out of IDF all together because “it wasn’t relevant.” Now, you can see how much the dialogue has shifted & how integral embedded-related topics really are not just to the future of Intel, but to the future of the world in general.

Lastly, I really hope you can carve out just 15 minutes to come visit us in the SiMan Assembly area! Here’s a map of how to get there:

So, that’s it – that’s the highlights – I’ll be working to keep you as up-today as possible on Twitter (as will our official @IntelEmbedded account) & (hopefully) a quick blog at the end of each day. And, before anyone asks, NO, I will NOT be flying the Quadcopter at IDF – I think management learned their lesson & revoked my pilot’s license

Now, it’s your turn – what is getting you excited about at IDF – what do you want us to capture on video if you can’t make it? Let me know in the Comments below & remember:

PS: Follow me on Twitter: @Geek8ive or follow the #HashTag #IDF2011 to stay in the know real time